Guidance and FAQ 2011-12 NOW SUPERSEDED

There are several categories where the LA may claim AP funding on behalf of a home educated child, namely where the LA pays for FE courses or where the LA pays for SEN support. See FAQ and Guidance. Where young people are undertaking a Further Education course funded by the LA, there is no minimum age for the student.

SEN Support from the FAQ NOW SUPERSEDED

Where a young person has special needs and the LA is making a significant financial contribution to support costs, this money can be reclaimed via the Alternative Provision Census. It is not necessary for the child to have a statement of SEN. Read more here

Pupil Premium from the FAQ NOW SUPERSEDED

Where the child entered on the AP Census Form lives in a household which meets the eligibility criteria for Free School Meals, the Pupil Premium may be claimed, on condition that the LA or alternative provider has confirmed the necessary documentation. Read more here.

September 2011 Home Education APPG, House of Commons

In September the All Party Parliamentary Group for Home Education held a meeting on Local Authority support + access to Further Education and exams chaired by MP Graham Stuart. Lisa Thom from the Department for Education spent several hours listening to a diverse range of views from from local authority representatives and home educating parents. The meeting agreed that future guidance on funding needed to be much clearer. An annotated list of points raised at the meeting can be found here.

November 2011 New Guidance and FAQ NOW SUPERSEDED

The issues were addressed in FAQ and Guidance. It is expected that many more local authorities will now use this funding for home educated children.

Introduction to Home Education Funding NOW SUPERSEDED

It has always been the Government's position that there is no financial support for home educated children. Essentially this position has not changed. However, at the end of 2009 the Government stated that local authorities were able to claim for home educated children via the Alternative Provision Census where the authority was paying for special needs support or a place at college.

Home Education Funding Survey 2011 ARCHIVED

The 2011 Funding Survey obtained answers from 143 out of 152 authorities. Some local authorities were prepared to claim funding; others preferred not to get involved with the paperwork or reported that they had never been asked for funding. Around a quarter of local authorities were adamant that home educated children were not eligible for any funding.

What Local Authorities Say About Funding For Home Education

Wolf Report 2011 Implications for Home Ed 14-16 College

The Wolf Report says that colleges must offer students a full 14-16 programme. Professor Wolf says the Government should make explicit the legal right of colleges to enrol students under 16 and should ensure that funding makes this possible. The Government confirmed that colleges should open up to 14-16s and should always offer Maths and English GCSEs. Read more here

Why Home Educators Might Choose College

Regional Variations in Claiming Home Education Funding NOW SUPERSEDED

Home educated children in the West Midlands and the North West are 4 times more likely to be funded for special needs support or college places than children in the North and South East. Click here for more information about regional variations

Larger Local Authorities Claim More Funding NOW SUPERSEDED

Larger Local Authorities Are Five Times More Likely To Claim Funding and 2/3 of LAs in England have fewer than 100 home educated children. Click here for more details.

14-16s: Who Can Get a Place Funded at College? NOW SUPERSEDED

Click here to read about the three main ways for young people to be funded at college. It is not necessary for young people to be placed artificially on the roll of a school or "PRU, since the local authority can legitimately reclaim funding for home educated young people under the category "Not a School."

Special Educational Needs Funding. NOW SUPERSEDED

Many parents of children with SEN have said that they felt they had no choice but to home educate because of problems in schools. In the recent SEN Green Paper published March 2011 the Government said "We expect that when local authorities are considering whether parents are making suitable provision that they also consider whether to use their power under the Education Act 1996 to make special educational provision out of school to help the parents make their provision suitable for their child’s SEN." Read more about home education and SEN support here Click here for SEN funding answers.

Law On Home Education

Parents have a duty to cause children to receive education suitable to age, ability, aptitude and special educational needs. Children with a statement of special needs can legally be educated at home. The Government has no legal power to direct how the child is educated, though the local authority has a duty to act if it appears that the child is not receiving education.

Local authorities have an obligation to provide sufficient school places but the authority has no legal responsibility to assist a family when a school place has been declined because the "right to education" is phrased negatively. (More here about the limitations of a "right to education" http://edyourself.org/articles/childsrighteducation.php)

Children Home Educated As Result Of Bullying

Bullying is often cited as the reason why children are home educated. Where children are bullied, parents may ultimately feel that they have no choice but to home educate. Because parents have taken the initiative and asked for the child's name to be removed from the school roll, this will be categorised as "education at home by parental choice." Read more here

Local Authority Structure

Some authorities are single towns or cities, other authorities cover an entire county. To an extent the structure of the local authority does make a difference as to whether or not the LA claims funding. Unitary Authorities, which are typically single towns or cities within a larger rural "shire" county, rarely claim funding. Most councils are Unitary Authorities. Read more here

Historical Position on Funding ARCHIVED

Over the years, when home educating parents have been to see their MP to ask for help with special needs support or with taking exams, the official line from the Government has been that home education is not funded. Most local schools and local authorities inform parents that they will receive no further support once they take children out of school.

This basic position has not changed. Individual families receive no financial support once children are home educated. Schools have no duties towards children who are not registered pupils as can be seen from the fact that very few schools will allow home educated children to go into the school to take exams, even where families offer to pay.

Of course, this made no difference to funding for the academic year 2009-10 since no-one knew whether it would also apply in the future. With news of further cuts in every department at every level, local council employees would be unlikely to gamble on paying for home educated children in the hope that they would be able to reclaim the money later. However, the June 2010 position was also reiterated in the Government Guidance published later in the year.